Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Thats Maddox! This weekend he started smiling. Saturday morning he woke up so we put him in the bed with us. He was in a really good mood and we were just enjoying talking to him, then he just started grinning! Now he grins all the time! Its really cute. We havent gotten a picture of it yet but we promise we will try! He also started rolling over too! He can roll from his stomach to his back all by himself! The first time he did this we both looked at each other and said"did you roll him over?" When we both agreed neither of us had helped him we concluded he must have done it himself, and sure enough he did it again right in front of our eyes. Now if we put him on his stomach he is most likely going to roll onto his back. It seems like overnight things change and he can do new things! It is really neat!

Maddox still attracts A LOT of attention anywhere we go. Everyone always talks about how little he is. We dont really understand this, if they would just look at us they would understand why we have such a little baby....we are not big people by any means. Mostly people ask if he was a preemie, or ask about how much he weighed when he was born. This gets a little annoying after you hear it for the 10th time in one day. His patch of hair is also going to be shaved. Jamie is getting a little tired of the attention it brings too. Its amazing the comments people make about it or they just stare and we feel like we have to explain why he has the patch of hair. But the comment we always hear and of course its the best one is "he's sooo cute" Yep we know he's cute! And we take it as a compliment because he is a product of both of us, so that says something about us too! ;)

This weekend we brought Maddox blueberry picking! We woke up saturday morning and headed out to the local blueberry patch to pick some berries. We ended up picking about 2 gallons! They are so yummy! We made some yummy blueberry cheescake ice cream and some blueberry muffins. Tonight we are making a blueberry crisp for our Bible study group!We also went to a reception for our friend Ben who got married earlier this month. Maddox enjoyed being carried around by his dad and of course he enjoyed all the attention. After the reception we brought him over to a friends house and we played a round of poker, Maddox and Jamie came in second!! Way to go!

Sunday was church and then we went over to Nana and PJ's house (Brian's parents). Maddox slept through most of this, and when we did wake him up to meet everyone he started screaming. It was just bad timing. He usually naps most of the afternoon and we have learned it is usually not a good idea to wake him up in the middle of a nap.

Overall we had a pretty busy weekend, the main reason we havent gotten around to posting until today.

Friday we leave to go to MiMi and Paw Paws house (Jamie's parents). Its about a six hour drive, hopefully it wont take us longer. We are going to travel in the evening so maybe Maddox will sleep for most of the journey. We'll come back on Tuesday! We are really looking forward to this trip and we know Jamie's parents are too. This will be only their second time to see Maddox! It will be our mini vacation for the summer.

We hope everyone is having a great week so far! We will probably post sometime this weekend or early next week when we get back from our trip! In the meantime here are some more pictures to enjoy....

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ever since Maddox has been sleeping in the swing he has slept so well. Each night he sleeps for 5 hours wakes up to eat and then goes back down for 3 hours! This means we are well rested and it feels great! He also does so much better during the day when he has slept well at night. So some people may frown at us for allowing him to sleep in the swing each night, but we just say you do what you gotta do! Maddox has also had no spit up incidences since sleeping in the swing propped up, so we know he feels better. We have also implemented a new nighttime bath routine. He loves to take a bath! When he starts to get fussy and sleepy in the evenings we bring out the tub. It calms him down and lets him know its almost time for bed. Once he gets out and gets his jammies on he is happy and content and sometimes doses off without being nursed. We think the bedtime routine has also helped out his sleeping problems.

Maddox is getting big...He weighs about 8lbs now...Yay! He is even starting to get little rolls...they are so cute, but they are a booger to clean between. His clothes still don't really fit well. He has a few (meaning 2) outfits that fit him. Onesies are still big, but the newborn size sleepers are starting to fit a lot better now! He is really good at holding his head up now, he loves to look around at everything. Jamie got a good smile out of him the other morning at 4am. He was up to nurse and was in a really good mood. Hes got a great smile..all gums!

We had a great weekend! It rained almost all weekend so we stayed inside a lot. Saturday we did get to go out to the pool with our friends Barry and Anita again. Maddox slept through this again. I think he is holding out to have his first swim at MiMi and Paw Paw's! For fathers day we went to church and heard a great sermon about leaving a legacy. Maddox's pediatrician Dr. McGhee was preaching. He was great. You can hear the sermon if you like just visit www.cccruston.com ! All Brian wanted for fathers day was to spend the day with Jamie and Maddox, so that's what we did! We had a fun and relaxing day. Oh, Jamie also made homemade bread on Saturday without a bread machine....it was mmm mmm good! This weekend we have plans to wake up Saturday morning and go pick blueberries at the local blueberry patch! We cant wait to get them home to make some yummy recipes! This weekend is also the peach festival so we are definitely going to get some peaches...they are sooo yummy!

Well that's about all that's been going on up here. Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer!

Friday, June 16, 2006

Hello blog readers!We thought everyone would like to hear whats been going on and see some more pictures.The latest news is that we bought a new swing for Maddox. It's a very nice swing with a lot of neat features. The main reason we decided to buy this swing was because Maddox has been having trouble sleeping at night we think due to reflux/colic problems. The swing allows him to sit up a little and has so far helped with his reflux problems at night allowing us all to sleep more peacefully. The swing is also kind of oval shaped and conforms to his body. He really likes to be cuddled and so this swing cuddles him while he sleeps. We have only had it a little over a day but it worked the last 2 nights and hes enjoyed it during the day too. We had a lot of trouble putting him down in his crib after he fell asleep but he has no trouble staying asleep when we put him down in the swing. It also has a timer on it so we can set it and not worry about it staying on all night. We are just glad we found something that works and allows us all to get some sleepSo yes, Maddox has had some spells of colic. We have learned this is not fun. We went 2 nights without sleep and had to come up with a solution. Monday night and Tuesday night were awful and he didnt sleep for more than about an hour and a half stretch at a time. The last 2 nights we had good sleep and yesterday he was really happy which was really nice for a change. Hopefully we wont have any more bouts of colic.Maddox is really getting bigger. He is starting to try and smile now. I think he will have that down pact soon. He has given us little smiles a few times, we are just waiting for that big grin! He is very alert and loves to move his arms and legs. When we put him down on his tummy or back he always ends up squirming around and ends up in a totally different spot/position than we laid him. He also really likes his bath now, and we enjoy giving him one a lot more now that he doesnt scream through them.Thats about all thats been going on since the last post. We have taken some more pictures for everybody to see. One is of our dog Maddie who enjoys Maddox's play gym almost as much as he does. Our other dog fletcher is in the picture with Maddox, he was trying to comfort Maddox while he was crying, it was really sweet.Hope everyone has been having a blessed week!Love you all!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

So, it wasn't Maddox's first haircut, but it was Brian's first time at cutting hair. We decided to keep the little guy's hair just as it was when he left he hospital, but it had grown some more. A mutual decision was reached. Brian gets to cut the hair and if Jamie didn't approve of the outcome then it was all going to be shaved. We posted a picture of the new hair do; we'll let the picture speak for itself. The main excitement of late though has been...getting out of the house (and Ruston). It seems that since his birth we've been hermits, but we decided finally we wanted to try the mall, and a movie in Monroe (about a 30min drive) on Saturday. It was great, and it helped that Maddox was very calm the whole time. We went to see Over the Hedge (Maddox says its his favorite movie so far) we liked it pretty well too. Afterward we went on to Wal-Mart for some groceries and diapers (those little boogers seem to disappear - where do 60 diapers a week go?) This experience was a little less happy for us as Maddox decided that only being carried was good enough for him, which continued for the duration of the evening. He also seems to attract a lot of attention when we go places. Everyone likes to comment on how little he is. Most people think he is only a week or so old, they are shocked to hear he is almost 6weeks old (tomorrow!) People always want to stop and look at him and talk to us about him and of course comment on how cute and adorable he is, sometimes its flattering and other times we would like to shop/eat in peace.On Sunday we went to church. Maddox got to go in the nursery, it was him and one other baby. The lady that was in there said he only cried once. When Jamie went to go pick him up he was all swaddled up in her arms and she was rocking him....what a rough life! After church we went out to eat with some friends for some Chineese food...yum! Then later in the day we went swimming with our friends Barry and Anita. We were going to let Maddox try swimming out but he decided to go to sleep and slept the entire time we were out there. It was kinda nice because we got to enjoy our pool time. Maybe next time he can go for a swim. After swimming we went out for Johnny's pizza, then we came home and crashed! Maddox slept really well this weekend and so did we. Some poeple may say we are crazy but we considered this weekend to be very relaxing...we got out of the house, had fun, and slept well!

Posting more pictures for your viewing pleasure. We hear about you readers out there, so why don't you leave us a comment next time you stop in for an update? We sure would like to hear from everyone!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Not too much really going on this week but we thought we would post some more pictures.Maddox has had a great week! He has a good schedule down and is a very happy content baby. He now enjoys his baths and loves to be outside! If he is crying he immediately stops when we go outside...it's a little trick we use! :)Jamie and Maddox have had a very laid back week which has been nice considering what the past few weeks have been like. The days have been relaxing and Maddox has been in a really good mood. He definately has more periods of awake time and is very alert and active. We cant wait for him to start smiling and cooing!Well it was a short post but we mostly posted so you could see more pictures! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Monday, June 05, 2006

We had a wonderful weekend!Aside from Maddox being incredibly moody all weekend it was great! Jamie's sister, Angela and brother, Eric and Amy came to visit us. It was all their first time to see Maddox and get to hold him! We had a great time. They all agree with us that he is the cutest baby ever! Unfortunately he was rather moody so they got to see a side of him most people don't see. We think he was just still upset from last week's craziness. I think everyone had a great time though. They were very excited to see him and we were very excited to show him off.We were able to finish our flower beds in the backyard thanks to our built in babysitters and it was nice to let other people hold him while we got some things done and spent some much needed time together.Our schedule got very upset last week and we could tell it was affecting Maddox. Thankfully today everything seems to be back to normal. Maddox is in a great mood and is back to a more normal sleeping and eating schedule. He went for his one month check up on Friday. He weighs 6lbs 8oz and is 20 inches long. If you read the previous post he had gone to the doctor on Tuesday and they had measured him and said he was still 18 1/2 inches long....this was wrong, they obviously did not strech him out enough to measure him. He is finally starting to fill out. He is still small for 5 weeks old but, I think we have decided we just make small babies. Good news, he is starting to outgrow his preemie sleepers. If he streches out in them his toes curl up in the feet. Unfortunately they dont make a size between preemie and newborn so his other clothes are still really big for him. We have one outfit that fits...his khaki overalls....thanks Michelle and Chris! We put him in it yesterday when we went to a function. Its a preemie size too! At least his clothes are lasting him a long time and he is getting a lot of wear from some of them. Mostly he just wears onesies that are too big for him, just because they are easy and they are not too obviously oversized for him. We tried to take more pictures this weekend but there were not many times when he wasnt sleeping or screeming so we didn't get too many.An update on Jamie: She is healing great! She has been back on her feet and doing normal things since the day after surgery. She was tired for a while and is still a little sore but other than that she feels great. She goes to get her staples out on Wednesday. We should have told the surgeon to remove any other non-needed parts while in there, then maybe we wouldnt have to worry about them later. But hopefully this was and will be the end of it. She and Maddox plan on getting out for walks in the morning to get back into an exercise routine. She has lost the baby weight but would like to get back in shape since she hasnt been able to do much since Maddox was born.Brian has been keeping busy with work stuff. He has also been working in the yard a lot to try and get our grass and landscaping looking great! He really likes to work outside. He is a great help with Maddox too and the perfect Dad! He even likes changing diapers! What a champ!Well thats an update for the past couple of days. Hope everyone else had a great weekend!Love you all.....

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Well Jamie officially has one less body part....her gall bladder. They were able to get her in for sugery yesterday around 3pm and she went home around 7pm. Her gall bladder was about 2/3 full of tiny bb size gall stones and one was in the duct, so they squeezed it out. She is doing great and only has 4 tiny cuts on her stomach from the surgery. She stayed home with Maddox today and got some rest with him. Thankfully he has decided to sleep the whole day.Because she had to be given a bag of IV antibiotics she has not been able to nurse Maddox, but she has been pumping her milk and throwing it out to keep her supply up. She should be able to nurse him again this evening. The doctor said give it 24 hours. We are very dedicated to nursing and will not let a little thing like this get in the way. Brian has been able to feed Maddox, which he enjoys. Brian woke up and fed Maddox his bottles last night while Jamie pumped. I think we are all glad that Maddox will be returning to nursing tonight though. Bottles can be a bit of a pain. Also, Maddox does not like the formula as much as breastmilk. He spits up and burps a lot after a bottle. Plus, formula stinks! Yuk it smells bad after he spits it up we do not find this with breastmilk. Anyway, we are just glad that he will be able to continue nursing.We just wanted to update and let everyone know what was going on and how Jamie was doing. Hopefully this will be the end of everything and our lives can return back to a semi-normal state with no surgeries, doctors appts etc. We would like to stay away from hospitals for a while.We promise to take more pictures of Maddox this weekend. Things have been super busy so we havent taken a lot, but we'll make up for it.Have a great day!Until the next post......